Reflection: Corpus ChristiThis week’s reflection is an updated version of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ reflection from the previous liturgical year.

The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, was initiated in the Western Church in the High Middle Ages as a way to acknowledge the sacramental presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In many places an Eucharistic procession accompanies the mass. The movie, The Mission, is one of the most compelling films I have seen. Set in the time of Spanish and Portuguese colonization of Latin America and the suppression of the Jesuits in Paraguay and Brazil (c. 1760’s), the lens of the film is on the social and political transition of indigenous communities in the Jesuit missions, “Reductions,” idilic communities located in disputed territory between Brazil and Paraguay. The indigenous people were pawns in an international war between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. The Jesuits were the only European power advocating for their well-being and semi-autonomy. The final scene in the movie where the Eucharistic procession takes place shows the power of a faith that transcends religious dogma and politics.

The Jesuit community accompanied the people in their struggle for liberation: that is, they walked with the people in their struggle to maintain their cultural identity and their political freedom. In a key scene at the end of the movie, the superior of the community carries the monstrance high above his head followed by old men, women and children. The procession drew the people away from their village that was burning from the invading Portuguese militia who were “pacifying” the village to bring it under Portugal’s control. The Jesuits and the villagers opposed the invading force because the Portuguese were going to make the indigenous people slaves. Some of the Jesuits took up arms against the invaders and others chose a non-violence path of self-sacrifice by participating in the Eucharistic procession. The path of non-violence was the path of witness and accompaniment.

The director, Martin Scorsese, seemed to use the Eucharistic procession as a cinematic expression of non-violent resistance, as an alternative to fighting the inevitability of European expansion. The end of the Jesuit missions, did not mean that the struggle was over nor did it mean that the indigenous people – or their collective spirit of resistance was futile. On the contrary, the Eucharistic procession, as depicted in the film, showed that the power of the Empire will never conquer the indomitable spirit of the indigenous community.

The dramatic imagery from the procession in the last scenes of Scorsese’s film are indeed a procession of non-violent Resistance and they might call to mind the images of indigenous people walking from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to the United States border. Online and television images show young men and women holding the hands of their children walking through Mexican towns. Looking for asylum in the US, these refugees are fleeing the conditions of poverty brought on by climate change and the horrors of war and street violence brought on by decades of domestic corruption complicated by US interference in their country’s affairs. Return now to the film, The Mission. As the procession of indigenous people carrying the Holy Eucharist left the burning church and village, Scorsese faded the sound of violence with a plaintive melody played on an oboe with a string orchestra and chorus. But unlike Scorsese’s film, the sound track for the procession of refugees from Central America does not fade into music. There is no musical score that accompanies the Body of Christ as it is thrown into overcrowded and filthy facilities that many call “concentration camps.” There is no plaintive melody as the Body of Christ is desecrated by separating parent from child and placing frightened and traumatized children into cages or warehouses where the Body of Christ is molested and beaten. On this feast of Corpus Christi, there may be some tendency to honor the Body of Christ in a traditional way with processions and benedictions, but could we also consider how we might honor the Body of Christ amassed at our southern border?

Weekly Intercessions Last week a six year old girl died of a heat stroke. Her mother noticed that her daughter was in need of water and so left her in the hands of strangers while she went looking for water. This did not happen in a neighborhood or in a shopping mall. This happened to Gurupreet Kaur who left India with her mother and dozens of other Indian nationals who were being trafficked through the 108 degree Sonoran desert. Gurupreet and her mother were with 6 other Indian nationals. The smugglers who dropped them off at a remote border area around 50 miles southwest of Tucson, were most likely tied to one of the Mexican drug cartels that now traffic in humans. These smugglers take the desperate refugees who entered Mexico seeking a way into the US. Increasingly Indian nationals, and thousands of Africans and Asians make the treacherous journey through the desert often joining up with Central American caravans. Rather than waiting in the overcrowded compounds for months at a time with no guarantee that their case will be adjudicated, hundreds of asylum seekers decide to take their chances with one of the human traffickers. Gurupreet, only days away from her seventh birthday, did not have a choice in the matter. Her mother and other Indian nationals looking to join their families who were already in the US, decided to risk the desert journey. What happened to Gurupreet was a tragedy that could have been avoided had the US used the speedy process to determine eligibility for asylum status and a humane way to handle pending cases. But the US changed asylum protocols to “discourage” refugees from coming to the US. The desert’s harsh environment also serves as a disincentive to migrants and refugees. In January a report shown that some agents in the US border patrol kicked over water bottles set to help border crossers like Gurupreet. On the good news side, a jury recently could not come to agreement to convict a humanitarian activist of a felony for leaving water and supplies for migrants in the desert. Let us pray Gurupreet and her family who mourn her loss and that more activists boldly defy the law and bring water and food to those forced to cross in the desert.

Threats of Mass Deportation – What to do? Should we take Trump’s threat to deport millions of people seriously? Yes and no. Looking at this threat form practical level, DHS is not staffed to accomplish this goal….but we cannot simply ignore Trump’s threat because his immigration policy is geared toward deportation. Immigration activists and Grupo Solidaridad are working alongside accompaniment teams that provide emotional and spiritual support and help connecting to social services, legal resources to ensure due process under the Constitution is respected, and advocates who work to shape public policy and hold public officials accountable to ensure that immigrants are respected at work and school, secure in their communities, and able to engage in their own public affairs. Watch for TEXT ALERTS over these next few days for alerts on events and actions that support our immigrant community in the Valley.

A federal appeals court just ruled against Trump on DACA! DO NOT WAIT TO RENEW YOUR DACA. DO IT NOW.

No mass on June 30.

No habrá misa de 30 de junio.

Grupo Solidaridad is a part of an on-going community project of Catholic Charities’ division, Advocacy and Community Engagement. For more information on how to get involved in Grupo Solidaridad, its activities or other groups associated with Grupo Solidaridad, contact Fr. Jon Pedigo atjpedigo@CatholicCharitiesSCC.org

Congratulations to those who have completed the training to become accompaniment team members in Catholic Charities Parish Engagement pilot at Our Lady of Refuge! 41 people completed training and will begin serving clients on July 1!